The
latest Unitrade catalogue arrived in Montreal in November this year
as usual. The cost increased slightly to $45.95, plus tax.

Price
Changes

For
the 7th year in a row, the price increases were few and modest. Again,
most were for the varieties, not the regular stamps and there were only
a few declines. We counted over 28 new varieties. In the Early Classics
and Large Queens, a surprising number of increases for covers were found.
This seems to be an area of collecting that is attracting new interest.
In modern Canada, there were many increases, especially in the 2006
– 2013 period, but the amounts were not significant. A nice surprise
was the substantial increase in the price of many of the OHMS perforated
official stamps at the back of the book.

Increase for E1, E1b, OX1, OX2 and most of the perforated offical stamps
(shown at page 572).

E1
2015 $250
2014 $150

OX2a
2015 $6,500
2014 $6,000

We note also the substantial increases in the values for the “computer
vended postage” stamps issued in 2012. These are shown at page
562.

Conclusion
We are pleased to see that Unitrade has so well reflected what is happening
in the market with respect to Canada’s postal history and its
perforated official stamps. We were not expecting this. But a look at
any of the current catalogues shows that these two areas of collecting
are receiving greater coverage. We offer our congratulations and best
wishes to Robin Harris who has been Unitrade’s editor for the
past 10 years. He has done an excellent job.